Auburn University professor named fellow of National Humanities Center

AUBURN – Keren Gorodeisky, an assistant professor in Auburn University’s Department of Philosophy in the College of Liberal Arts, has been named a fellow of the National Humanities Center.

As the recipient of the Phillip Quinn Fellowship in philosophy, Gorodeisky will be in residence at the North Carolina-based center from September 2012 to May 2013, where she will work on an individual research project and have the opportunity to share ideas in seminars and lectures.

“This prestigious award recognizes Keren for what she is: a rising star in the philosophy of art,” said Michael Watkins, chair of the Department of Philosophy.

The focus of her work at the center will be a book manuscript titled “A Matter of Form: Kant on the Judgment of Beauty.”

“My work concerns an interpretation of Immanuel Kant’s understanding of the way we appreciate beauty in nature and art,” Gorodeisky said. “The main thesis of the book is that Kant’s aesthetics has been largely misunderstood due to a prevalent confusion about the distinctive form of aesthetic appreciation. I argue that only when the form of aesthetic judgment is properly understood, as distinct from and independent of, the forms of other judgments we ordinarily make – factual judgments and practical judgments in particular – can Kant’s account and its special merits come into view. The book includes a reconstruction of these three judgmental forms that aims to bring out the virtues in Kant’s aesthetics for present day concerns about beauty and art.”

Gorodeisky received her bachelor of arts in philosophy and comparative literature from Tel-Aviv University and her Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University. She has taught in Auburn’s Department of Philosophy since 2007 and serves as the adviser for the department’s Philosophy Club.

The fellowship was established in 2010 to commemorate the work of philosopher Philip L. Quinn and is awarded annually in philosophy to a young woman in the early stages of her scholarly career.

The National Humanities Center is a privately incorporated independent institute for advanced study in the humanities. Since 1978, the center has awarded fellowships to more than 1,200 scholars, whose work has resulted in the publication of more than 1,400 books in all fields of humanistic study. The center also sponsors programs to strengthen the teaching of the humanities in secondary and higher education. For more information, go to http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/.